Bismarck – The North Dakota Term Limits Committee has challenged the North Dakota Secretary of State, Alvin Jaeger’s disqualification of tens of thousands of valid signatures from residents seeking a statewide vote on term limits. The lawsuit states that the number of signatures submitted was sufficient and in November North Dakotans should be voting on term limits for Governor, State Senate and State House. The lawsuit was filed with the North Dakota State Supreme Court.
“Our committee has complied fully with state law and submitted a sufficient number of signatures to the Secretary of State,” said Jared Hendrix, the North Dakota Term limits Chair. “The Secretary of State violated existing legal precedent in disqualifying the signatures. We are confident that the State Supreme Court will see this and require the proposal to be placed on the November ballot."
“It will be shown that the Secretary of State disqualified thousands of signatures in violation of legal precedents established by the North Dakota Supreme Court. These included incidents where Jaeger struck down signatures from North Dakota residents who signed the petition but might have had poor handwriting, omitted a street direction like NW or S, gave a post office box address, or listed a college dormitory as their residence,” explained Hendrix.
“The State Supreme Court has ruled previously that signatures are valid if the elector (i.e. the petition signer) has ‘substantially complied’ with relevant statutes. It appears Jaeger jettisoned this standard, instead imposing his own ‘strict compliance’ standard which left no room for minor human error,” added Hendrix.
Term Limits for North Dakota is a proposed ballot measure for North Dakota. Residents will be able to vote on applying two, 4-year term limits to the North Dakota Governor, State House and State Senate. The ballot initiative campaign committee is composed of grassroots citizens from across our state, as well as several former and current elected officials. Many are experienced legislators who understand the importance of term limiting their positions.
